Moonutatud Muundused / Distorted Conversions can be seen as an auditive synthesis of Kris Kuldkepp’s various musical activities over the last few years. Comprising a 40-minute exploration of musical entanglements, the album explores the double bass as a solo instrument with a rich timbre quality guiding the musical journey, being simultaneously not always visible or discernible. The double bass is like a trickster, taking many different forms over the course of the musical journey; its pure deep sound quietly resonating against a backdrop of electronic sounds. It shifts the tropes of solo double bass albums with the bass sounds running the gamut from classical to noise music.
"Her activities indicate an interest in improvisation, and maybe there is evidence of that in the three pieces here, but I immensely enjoyed these pieces. The use of various bass instruments gives the music a solid, deep-end sound, and I think she has many layers of these bass sounds, which are carefully mixed into the music on this disc. Whatever she does with electronics, I don't know (maybe my lack of interest in the world of modular electronics), but it gives the music a solid musique concrète feeling. She extracts sounds from the basses, using objects and let's these sing around in the electronics, and in the mix, she creates this intense music. At times, I am reminded of Iancu Dumitrescu but also of more industrial music, which makes for a beautiful combination, along with some of the more improvised elements. Maybe, at times, it's an odd combination, but it works well. The best piece here is also the longest, 'Küllastumine Nõudmisel / Saturation on Demand', which indeed works with a lot of saturation of drone-based sounds, but in solid combination with small acoustic sounds, some of which reminded me of a rowing boat. This is a solid debut; hopefully, there will be more soon. ~ (FdW) Vital Weekly"
"This is a splendidly deep album of moody dark soundscapes, with great variety and richness of tone. The fact that it was created from instrumental recordings is hardly perceptible, but was clearly an inspired approach considering the multifaceted and listenable result. The vivid texture of the dynamic, high-resolution production shows remarkable skill with digital processing and precise mixing. 5 out of 5."
~ Musique Machine
"Moonutatud Muundused / Distorted Conversions is an essay in post-industrial double bass and electronics. .. The double bass is here, but in a series of aliases. ... Just as we think to ask whether the bass has somehow lost itself in this sonic labyrinth we discern its profile around the next turn, first in low, bowed tones and then much later in a burst of arpeggiated harmonics."
~ Daniel Barbiero, AMN Reviews
"Solo double bass rules the roost on Moonutatud Muundused / Distorted Conversions, an album that probably doesn’t sound like what most people would expect from the instrument. Kris Kuldkepp mingles bass and electronics and stretches the timbres as far as they can push them."
~Richard Allen, A Closer Listen
